


Checkmate

by AntaresPromise



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Demons, Elves, Enemies to Lovers, Fantasy, M/M, Mages, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 03:29:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18490420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntaresPromise/pseuds/AntaresPromise
Summary: In the last free city untainted by war, General Nikiforov became betrothed to his arch nemesis by accident.





	Checkmate

“General Nikiforov,” Chris smirked, “you really want to know what the soldiers are saying?”    
  
“Spit it out, Giacometti, I don’t have time for this nonsense.”    
  
Chris emptied the goblet, his shoulders shuddering in silent laughter. Wings sprouted from his back by accident. He stretched them, sending magnificent golden feathers fluttering in Victor’s dustless tent. “they are saying you are frigid, and that you have an icicle for a co-“    
  
Victor snatched the wine from Chris’s grasp and hissed, “Avian, I’m going to turn you into a feather duster.”    
  
Chris rocked back and forth clutching his stomach unable to control his laughter, “I’m just an intoxicated bird who can’t even hide his wings,”    
  
Victor grumbled and sipped from his favorite dark-violet clay teacup.    
  
Chris yawned, resting his chin on Victor’s desk as his wings disappear, “what I’m trying to say is, you are pent up and that you need a vacation.”    
  
“And leave the entire army to the likes of  _ you _ ?” Victor ran a hand through his long silver locks snatching the teacup away from Chris’s grasp.   
  
“Hey, that’s not how you address your second in command,” Chris sprawled over the map on Victor’s desk three feet from the ground while pouting, “you elves are no fun.” He traces a finger along with the arrows Victor marked on the map of the battlefront between two kingdoms.    
  
“No time for that nonsense, not until I destroy him,” Victor’s violet eyes narrowed reflecting the flame atop of the oil lamp. Only elven royalty had irises that shade.     
  
“You are obsessed with Katsuki,” Chris chuckled.    
  
An involuntary sound escaped Victor’s throat. Inches from his heart, the same place the tip of Yuuri Katsuki’s spear once grazed, his scar throbbed.  _ I was close _ , Victor bit his lip. The memory of them fighting in full armor fresh like the soft flakes of the first snow. He couldn’t make out his opponent’s face because of the helmet, but he would never forget that gaze filled with pure hatred.    
  
“Katsuki Yuuri and Victor Nikiforov will go down in history as two rival generals, too brilliant for their own good, causing the borders to be in a stalemate for decades,” Chris continued to collect stray feathers from Victor’s desk.    
  
Victor ignored him.    


* * *

  
Victor cursed, regretting following Chris into the city Zephyr.    
  
The streets glowed shades of orange, red, and lavender, lit on both sides by flames from the Everlasting lamps. The lamp makers made a fortune. For reasons unknown, the glass orbs containing flickering flames of magic glowed the brightest within these city walls.   
  
Victor tried tucking a wisp of long silver locks behind his now rounded ears. He never felt more naked without his long hair. The disguise charm in the shape of a teardrop tickled against the flesh of his chest. Almost everyone wore these inside Zephyr’s.     
  
The sovereign of Zephyr, Mila, reinforced one rule: no fighting. To mages, elves, avians, demon’s, and humans alike, she opened the walls to all. Despite the war between the mages and elves outside. For thousands of years, Zephyr vowed to never interfere with the conflicts outside. 

No wise ruler even dared contemplate invading the city blessed by the west wind. Those who tried ended in exile, misfortune, and a faded page in history to be forgotten.    
  
Victor sighed as he pushed through the crowded marketplace teeming with life.   
  
A minstrel began to sing nearby, in a dialect of avian language Victor couldn’t comprehend.  _ Chris must be at the arena again.  _

Deep laughter from a nearby tavern followed by cheering. Victor wrinkled his nose.  _ I hate the smell of alcohol.  _

Part of him began to enjoy his new found freedom in the last city untainted by war. Unbound by the Nikiforov name, by his royal blood, by his reputation as the cruel elven prince who destroyed Hasetsu ten years ago.  

The crowd cheered in unison as the merchant with large hands and long brown ponytail grinned from cheek to cheek from collecting money the crowd wagered on which competitor would win in the arena. 

Victor peered over the shoulder of two mages. Only in Zephyr he could stand this close to his enemies. 

Clad in a simple dark tunic, a dark-eyed warrior evaded another strike by springing into the air. He smirked before landing and with the scabbard of his unsheathed sword, sent his opponent flying past the magical barrier of the ring which glowed crimson breaking his fall. 

Thunderous clapping and whistling followed. 

A warm hand draped on Victor’s shoulder.       __  
  
”I bet my friend here can win,” all heads turned to Chris as he shoved Victor into the ring.   
  
The crowd roared.  
  
Victor’s eyes narrowed into slits. Gritting his teeth, he remembered the last time he fought a worthy opponent. He remembered the rush of adrenaline sharpening all his senses, the clanking of metal, and the rapid movements rendering them breathless in each other’s rhythm. Ten years passed. The scar next to his heart throbbed. _Katsuki Yuuri._ __I almost had him at that time. I was so close.

He couldn’t see Yuuri’s face because they were both clad in full armor. Yuuri’s gaze drenched in pure hatred haunted him for years. 

Victor sighed, gripping the hilt of his sword, still not used to the absence of his long silver locks being gone because of the disguise charm. _Chris I’m going to punish you for this. You are not getting another day off for the next year, no, actually for the next five._ _  
_

“What’s your name?” the dark-eyed stranger flashed a private smile. 

“Vitya,” by reflex, Victor used the nickname nobody used for years.  

“My name is Yuuri,” soundless as a cat, the stranger with a hint of familiarity walked in a semicircle. 

Victor winced a little at the name, letting nothing show on his face.  _ But Yuuri is a common name,  _ he reminded himself while suppressing the memories of ten years ago leaving him drenched in sweat at night.  

“Vitya, shall we?” Yuuri stretched out a hand. 

Hesitating for a second because in the elven tradition touch was forbidden, Victor raised a gloved hand. 

Yuuri brushed the back of Victor’s hand with his lips. 

The warmth of Yuuri’s breath lingered sending shivers down Victor’s spine. Victor strained to keep his expression stoic. To display any type of affection in his world was preposterous. His face burnt. 

Yuuri charged.  

_ He’s fast. _ Victor smirked as he dodged the first attack by leaping into the air.

The crowd roared. 

Fascinated by the way Yuuri moved, more like a dance rather than the simple steps Victor had been trained to master with the sole purpose to kill. 

Dance, that was forbidden too, in the elven world. 

Everything sharpened, from the flickering lavender Everlasting lights to the coins being dropped as the spectators bet on the outcome of the duel. Victor blocked Yuuri’s kick with the hilt of his sword. 

Time lost its relevance, each second stretching into eternity. 

Yuuri’s forehead glistened, a stray dark lock fell across his eyes. 

Victor resisted the urge to tuck it behind his opponent’s ear. 

He could hear the rapid beats of his own heart. 

“Will Yuuri draw his sword?” someone the in the crowd whispered with excitement. 

“Now that would be a sight!” 

Thrusting himself from one hand from the ground, Victor’s shoulder was almost struck by Yuuri’s sheath. 

_ His stamina is unbelievable,  _ Victor’s chest rose and fell quicker than ever before.  _ I have to finish this. I have to be on the offensive side.   _

The crowd tripled in size, despite the length of their duel. 

Victor feigned an attack and leaped into a roundhouse kick. 

With a flash of silver and gasps from the demons, mages, shapeshifters alike, Yuuri drew his sword.

“You are good, Vitya,” Yuuri wet his lips. 

Victor’s fingers curled around his own hilt, its texture and weight familiar, like an extension of his being. 

Sparks flew from the clanking metal as he studied Yuuri’s lithe form. Victor’s heart sank.  _ Yuuri left no openings.  _ He blocked one attack, then another, fatigue catching up with him quicker than he had anticipated. 

“You are too, Yuuri,” Victor caught a glimpse of his own reflection from Yuuri’s eyes, of a tall warrior, swift and free, without the long silver locks, without the elven ears or the cursed violet eyes, without the burdens of the cruel name that followed him in whispers. 

Yuuri couldn’t look away. 

Victor smiled as the tip of his sword stopped at Yuuri’s throat. Both panting, black dots danced before Victor’s eyes as his lung screamed for air.  _ I won. _

“Yuuri! Congratulations on your engagement!” A dark-haired shapeshifter with a winged hamster on his shoulder beamed as he rushed into the ring.

Victor stopped cold, his eyes darted through the crowd and stopped at the sight of his second in command.  _ Chris, you are dead to me. _

“What the  _ hell _ did he wager?” Victor cornered Chris.    
  
“Himself,” Chris flashed a lopsided smile like he had been caught stealing food before the feast.

“Fuck,” Victor buried his face into his hands.   __  
  


* * *

**Author’s Note:**

Greetings, 

It’s been a while! I took a long break after my last multi-chapter story: [Contraindications](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16149410/chapters/37733579), and it’s good to be back. 

Victor’s personality is different from canon and this is intentional. There’s nothing that I love more than an interesting villain and in some ways, in this story, Victor is the bad guy. 

Lastly, no matter how dark this story will get this is a reminder that I only write happy endings. 

Much Love,

-A   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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